Chinese Super League opener kick-off tonight
The "dark horse" challenges the traditional strong teams to avoid relegation and expand the camp
The 2022 Chinese Super League will kick off on June 3. The opening game between the defending champion Shandong Taishan team and the newly-promoted Zhejiang team will kick off at the Wuyuanhe Stadium in the Haikou Division that night.
A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily learned on June 2 that a brief opening event with a total length of about 15 minutes will be held before the opening game.
It is understood that the active international referee Zhang Lei is likely to serve as the referee of this game.
Taishan and seaport hegemony will become the main theme
It has to be said that the new season of the Chinese Super League set sail against the background of further decline in Chinese football.
It is imperative to regain credibility for Chinese professional football by regulating the league.
After the departure of sky-high foreign aid and international famous coaches, it is inevitable that the Chinese Super League will face a reduction in both technical content and viewing pleasure.
The continuous high-density competition schedule brought by the centralized competition system for three consecutive seasons has constituted a huge test for each team's ability to fight for a long time.
Relatively speaking, several clubs that do not account for the majority in the league and whose operating environment remains stable undoubtedly occupy a favorable competitive position.
Among them, last season's champion Taishan team and runner-up Haigang team are still the strongest contenders for the Chinese Super League championship this season.
Shandong Taishan team and Shanghai Haigang team won the "double championship" and double runner-up respectively in the league and cup competitions last season, largely due to the fact that the two clubs were able to pay staff salaries on time, their bonuses and the guarantee of signing funds, which are not conducive to stability. The military will undoubtedly play a vital role in enhancing collective cohesion and combat effectiveness.
At present, there are only a handful of "top-notch" foreign players left in the Chinese Super League.
Among them, Harbour Oscar and Tarzan Fellaini are undoubtedly the most typical representatives. This is an important reliance for the two teams to maintain their competitiveness in winning the championship.
In addition, both teams have adjusted and supplemented Chinese and foreign reinforcements.
For example, the introduction of Brazilian center Kleisang by the Taishan team filled the position vacancy left by Guo Tianyu's temporary loan.
In terms of domestic aid, the Haigang team has introduced Zhang Linpeng and Xu Xin, two active national players, and their overall strength has increased rather than decreased compared to last season.
Although the Taishan team lost Xu Xin, they also introduced Liao Lisheng, an international midfielder at the same level.
In addition, after a short two-month trip to the Portuguese Super League, Guo Tianyu is likely to regain his eligibility to represent his parent team in the remaining stages of the Chinese Super League through the "second transfer window" in August.
Taishan and Haigang hegemony will become the main theme of the Chinese Super League championship in the new season.
Beijing Guoan is expected to be among the first group
As far as the actual conditions are concerned, it is likely that the team that can challenge the Taishan team and the Haigang team are mainly the fourth-place Changchun Yatai team last season and the veteran powerhouse Beijing Guoan team.
For example, the Yatai team had a record of 1 win and 1 draw against the Haigang team in the league last season, and a record of 1 draw and 1 loss against the Taishan team.
To a certain extent, the pace of the Haigang team winning the championship was delayed by Yatai.
As in previous seasons, the Yatai team continued to keep a low profile, but its preparations were solid and well-organized.
As one of the teams with the most stable preparations for the new season of the Chinese Super League, the Yatai team added the former Zhejiang team forward Dino on the basis of retaining the 4 foreign players last season.
They will encounter Taishan in the first stage of the competition, which is an opportunity for them to challenge the defending champion and then hit the championship.
The Beijing Guoan team also kept a low profile.
On the basis of retaining most of the main players, the club introduced 4 new foreign aids in pre-season, including Memisevic who has proved his strength in the Chinese Super League.
In addition, the famous Xie Feng regained the command of the coach and the former international Zhang Chengdong returned. A group of young players with great potential were included in the lineup, which is an important reliance for them to become the first group of competition.
Although the sixth-place Shenzhen team was also going through a financial crisis last season, in terms of staffing, they still have the strength to have a place in the first group.
After the Korean veteran coach Lee Jang-soo took over, Shenzhen Football Club lost center Caldek and midfielder Quintero one after another, but the former Qingdao team's foreign aid Alexandrini, who recently joined the team, has proved himself with two seasons of performance. Competent for deep foot "core" role.
Many teams are competing to be the "dark horses" in the new season
Unlike most newly promoted horses in previous seasons, most of them are relegation favorites. This season, the four newly promoted teams Wuhan Sanzhen, Meizhou Hakka, Zhejiang team and Chengdu Rongcheng are likely to be the "dark horses" in the new season with their stable investment and enterprising spirit. It may be similar to the Changchun Yatai team who played amazingly in the league last season.
Among the 18 teams participating in the Chinese Super League in the new season, the operating environment of the 4 newly-promoted teams is stable, and they are not troubled by arrears of wages, which means that the team coaches can join the league competition in the new season with a normal mentality.
In addition, in terms of signings, the 4 clubs have used up 5 foreign players, and the vast majority of foreign players have been in place before the league starts.
Compared with the 3 teams that have been confirmed to play in the All-China class, the competitiveness of the 4 newly promoted teams is more reliable.
Among the four newly-promoted teams, the three towns of Wuhan are undoubtedly the most potential dark horses.
As a team that has experienced double jumps in the past two seasons and has advanced to the Chinese Super League this season, Wuhan's three towns are even stronger than veteran clubs such as Taishan, Haigang, and Guoan.
In addition to the introduction of foreign aids such as "Biao Wang" Stanqiu, the club has also successively introduced new and old international players or elites of national brands such as Liu Dianzuo, Gao Zhunyi, Deng Hanwen, He Chao, and Tao Qianglong.
In addition, the team's head coach Pedro gave up returning to Spain for vacation after leading the team to complete the task of overtaking, and insisted on staying in China to lead the team to prepare for the game. His performance in the new season is indeed worth looking forward to.
In the new season, the Chinese Super League clubs have introduced a total of 22 new foreign players, of which only 2 are active international players in their respective national teams.
In addition to Stanqiu, the Romanian international player in the three towns of Wuhan, the other is the Montenegro international Kosovic who was introduced by the Meizhou Hakka.
The two internationals will make 11 and 9 appearances for their respective national teams in 2021.
It can be seen that when most clubs are "throttling", most of the newly-promoted teams show a trend of "upstreaming", which may inject more new ideas into league competition.
Increased number of relegation teams
In the new season, the Chinese Super League will expand to 18 teams and will also sharply increase the number of relegation places from 0.5 last season to 3.
Proportionally, the difficulty of relegation competition in the Chinese Super League has increased significantly in the new season.
Under the influence of the general environment, the number of teams entering the relegation legion camp will also increase.
In the relegation group of the Chinese Super League last season, the preparations for the new season of the Henan Songshan Longmen team were relatively satisfactory.
The club recalled the foreign coach Javier, and on the basis of retaining the 4 foreign aids from last season, added Adrian to replace Ivo who left the team.
Except for Zhou Dingyang's change of court, the main configuration of the Songshan Longmen team has not "faded", and even has been upgraded to a certain extent in general.
This is an important guarantee for them to play a good relegation battle and even enter the middle camp of the league competition.
Except for Haigang, Taishan, Yatai, Guoan and some newly promoted polo teams, most of the other teams will be caught in the relegation competition.
In the context of the league's overall maintenance of the "foreign aid package to conquer the world" feature, the Hebei team and Guangzhou team, which were in the championship group last season, will play in the All-China class in the new season, and the Dalian team, which has been supplemented to the Super League, will be affected by FIFA's signing ban. , and will also play in the all-Chinese class with a high probability.
The foreign aid of the Guangzhou City team has not yet returned to the team, and the possibility of playing in the All-China class in the first stage and even the whole season is also increasing.
Of course they need to face up to "relegation".
As one of the few teams that has never been relegated from the top leagues, Shanghai Shenhua is affected by the FIFA ban. Appearing on the field is to be determined. In this case, this veteran team had to sound the relegation alarm in advance.
Although Wuhan Yangtze River Team and Tianjin Jinmen Tigers both introduced new aid, it is difficult to improve the absolute competitiveness of the team by patching up or "picking up leaks" to supplement manpower. They also need to fight for relegation.
Text/Co-ordinator by our reporter Xiao Xun/Du Rui